The Internship - A Lia Marie Johnson Romance
by TheChowder
Summary: James McKinley gets a little more than he bargained for after signing up for a TV production internship in Los Angeles. After the star of the show refuses to leave her dressing room, James is tasked with getting the show schedule back on track... by any means necessary.
1. Chapter 1

**The Internship**

#1

I stood outsider her dressing room, too nervous to move. As film staff and on-set caterers continued their frantic runs up and down the backstage hallway, I couldn't help but absorb some of their secondhand anxiety. Only three days of filming, yet somehow already a week behind schedule. And the star of the show constantly disappearing to the sanctuary of her dressing room between every failed shot. It was annoying the first two times. By the third, the director was ready to scream. And by the fourth, it like seemed he was finally done playing hide and seek. He had thrown his clipboard and coffee onto the floor, storming out of the studio and declaring that the leading lady was now the responsibility of "whatever intern you could wrangle to do this shitty job." At first, I leapt at the opportunity to show everyone how dedicated I was to the production. Now I just felt a deep sense of regret. Suddenly, a production assistant snuck up behind me and broke my concentration on self-pity.

"You have 20 minutes to get her out of that room or we're going home for the day. Again."

I nodded, putting on a smile of fake confidence. She glared back with dead eyes, making no effort to hide her misery. _Fuck it._ _If I'm gonna do this kind of shit for a living, better get used to being screamed at now._ I cautiously approached the door, clamping my hand into a fist and ignoring the fact that my entire body was shaking. My knuckles pressed up against the heavily-decorated dressing room entrance. _This is it._ Taking one final deep breath, I read the name on the bright yellow tape and knocked three times.

"Lia Marie Johnson?"

"Go away." A voice called from the other side of the door.

I gulped and knocked again, hoping the answer might somehow miraculously change.

"Go away!" The voice repeated, louder this time and with a clear tone of agitation.

No such luck. Only one thing left to do. I went to turn the door handle, but it wouldn't budge. _Yep, just like they said. This is gonna be rough._ I reached into my pocket and retrieved a small silver key. _Well… here we go._ I pushed it slowly into the keyhole and turned it, trying to make as little noise as possible. Click! Unlocked at last. I tried to shake off any nerves I had left in me. It was the moment of reckoning. Taking in a deep breath, I swung the door open and quickly stepped into the dimly lit room, swinging it shut tightly behind me. I barely had time to take in my surroundings before I was greeted by an empty wine bottle being flung at my face.

Dodging it as best I could, I stepped out of the way mere seconds before impact, watching as it smashed into the door behind me and shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.

"So, umm, hey Lia, I'm…"

"Leaving? Okay cool, bye." She interrupted.

I looked up and saw her sitting on a chair by her vanity mirror across the room, legs pressed to her chest in a curled-up fetal position. The ground was covered in empty liquor bottles, dirty wine glasses, and all sorts of really expensive-looking clothes. I approached cautiously, making sure not to step on anything that looked _too_ expensive.

"So, I'm an intern in the studio and we were just wondering…"

"I'm not going back out today. Feel free to leave any time."

My heart immediately sank in my chest. That was the answer everyone was afraid of hearing. The same answer we got yesterday. And the day before that. At first, I was angry, ready to just leap across the liquor-stained carpet and shake some goddamn sense into her. " _Why did you even bother showing up then?!"_ I would've screamed. _"Why are you making everyone's life so miserable?!"_

Luckily, I had enough common sense not to go through with that plan. Instead, I just sort of stood there in the midst of the chaotic scene, letting reality sink in. My first real internship on a film project was probably going to end up getting canned before it had even started. I wondered if I could still put it on my resume anyway. _I mean, does two days on the set of a failed TV pilot count as 'experience?' What skills would I even put on my resume as having learned from this? And what about-_

Suddenly, my internal monologue about future job prospects was broken my another one of Lia's interjections.

"You're still standing there" She said.

"Yeah, I am," I replied without thinking.

" _Why_ are you still standing there?"

At first, I tried to think of some witty comeback, as it was clearly just a rhetorical remark to get me to leave. But instead, something else came to mind. I didn't really know why I felt the urge to ask, but it was definitely a question I wanted answered.

"Well, why are you still sitting there?"

"What?" Lia's head immediately lifted up from its sulking position.

This is when I saw her face for the first time. I mean, I had seen it online during stuff like _Kid's React_ on YouTube and other internet-garbage I used to watch in middle school, but never in real life. Not even when she was wandering around on set for the few brief hours she had spent outside her dressing room. But now she was staring directly at me, like a predator ready to leap across the room and tear its prey to shreds.

For some reason, the only thing I could think about were her eyes. I had always remembered them as being bright blue. Nope. They were a dark greenish-brown, barely visible in the dim lights of the vanity mirror. Didn't help that there were runny black splotches under both of them. _Jeez,_ I started to think to myself. _She must've been crying for a while before I got here_. Suddenly, I started to feel sympathy for the girl that was ruining everyone else's day. Something was clearly going wrong here.

"What did you say?" She repeated, probably realizing how long I had been awkwardly gawking at her. I finally came to my senses.

"I, uhh, asked why you were still here," I restated, swallowing nervously. "Like, I mean, if you don't want to be here, why stay on set? Why not just go home?"

She looked away from me and back towards the mirror halfway through my question. I glanced over my shoulder, knowing I could just walk away now and let everyone know the bad news. It would be easy to just go stumble back out of this dressing room, waltz my way onto set, and tell everyone that the star was spending another day to herself. And that she had wasted all our time yet again. All I had to do was leave. But for some reason, I didn't. Instead, I approached her, slowly making my way across the field of sickly-sweet debris until eventually I was standing a mere few feet behind her. She stayed in her fetal position, head curled up behind her knees, staring blankly into the mirror.

"So, you're an intern?" She suddenly asked. A few seconds of awkward silence ensued as I processed the question.

"Yeah."

"You're like, the guy they send to do all the stuff nobody else wants to do."

"I mean, kind of."

"And you don't even get paid?"

"Not with money…"

"Then why are you still here? Like, why even do this?"

I took a moment to wonder that myself. I wasn't being paid to talk to this girl or coax her out of her dressing room to go film a shitty TV pilot. I wasn't even being paid to sit in LA traffic for 40 minutes on my day-to-day drive to and from the studio. And that gas money adds up quick. Finally, I formulated a response.

"I guess I just, you know, care?"

Lia cracked a smile. "About what?"

"I'm not sure. Just making something good that will have my name on it. Something that will make other people happy and something I can actually be proud of."

"You're proud of this TV show?" She asked sarcastically. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. It seemed we both knew it was going to be terrible.

"I mean, maybe not _this_ TV show" I admitted as she giggled to herself. "But that doesn't mean I have to stop trying! This is just sort of like a stepping stone to other, better stuff, you know?"

"Yeah, seems like a lot of people go their whole lives saying that sort of thing about everything they do," She replied halfheartedly.

"I didn't realize you were so full of wisdom," I snarked.

"Hey man, you don't believe me now, but give it a few years. I've been acting since I was 14 and I'm still doing trash shows."

"Yeah, but, you haven't given up yet, right? Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"If I hadn't given up yet, they wouldn't have sent you to come fish me out of my dressing room."

"But you're still here. I mean, _here_ as in on-set. You haven't left."

"Yeah," She admitted. "Guess I haven't."

We both stood in silence for a few seconds, pondering the awkwardly-deep conversation we had just shared. Lia was no longer curled into a little ball. She finally seemed comfortable enough to just sit normally in her chair. Her hair was a total mess, and her makeup seemed to have taken a beating from however long she had spent wallowing in tears. But all of that was suddenly nullified by the strange aura of confidence she now had. Her California sun-soaked skin was practically glowing under the lights of the vanity mirror, and as she stood to face me, I suddenly felt a gnawing in the back of my mind. Like there was something I wanted to tell this girl. Something that made me feel like I had known her a lot longer than I really have. Instead, she made the first move.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"James."

"Okay James. Want a drink?"

"Sure."

(Continued in Part 2)


	2. Chapter 2

#2

Lia walked over to the countertop near the end of the vanity mirror and picked up the only bottle of wine that still had some liquor left. Opening a door in her dresser, she removed two fairly-clean wine glasses and poured us a drink. I looked around for a place to sit, eventually deciding on the couch that had the least amount of clothes piled on it. As I went to sit, Lia followed, handing me the glass in one hand while taking a sip of her own in the other. I hesitated briefly, thinking about having to drive home after this mess.

"What's wrong?" She asked, somehow already halfway through her own glass.

"Nothing," I lied, deciding to suck it up and just go with it.

"So, James, huh? I haven't heard that name being used around set much."

"Yeah… I mean, I'm usually the guy who's doing all the off-set kind of stuff! You know, getting coffee, buying tape. Bullshit like that."

"Living that Hollywood dream" She smirked.

"What about you? Why are you always cooped up in here?"

Lia took a few passing glances around the messy dressing room, as if pondering whether or not to tell me the truth or just make something up on the fly.

"I don't want to talk about it." She finally admitted, deciding not to do either.

"That's okay."

"My boyfriend dumped me."

"Oh, jeez" I blurted out, not really expecting her to backpedal that quickly.

"It's okay" She assured me. "He was just some rich kid Hollywood douchebag anyway. Great ass though."

I stared at her, kind of confused whether or not I should say something. She just continued with her story.

"I guess he just wanted more. Pretty sure he thought I was some up-and-coming movie star, not a low budget TV show actress."

"Why would that matter?" I asked without thinking.

"What do you mean?" She seemed confused by the question.

"I mean, like, why would it matter what movies you star in or what roles you have?"

"Well, the better roles make better money. And get more attention. I guess he thought I was something worth investing in."

"That's pretty gross."

"What?"

"You're a human being, not a product to 'invest' in. You should be with someone because you want to be with them, not because you can eventually make money by putting up with them."

"That's just sort of how relationships work in Hollywood." She giggled at my ignorance, rolling her eyes and taking another sip from her nearly-empty wine glass.

"Why?"

"Because doing stuff like that is the only way to get noticed. To move up in the world. People don't really have a choice."

"People always have a choice."

"Not in Hollywood. And honestly, it's probably better that we don't."

"How could something that causes you so much misery possibly be better than having a choice?"

"Because if people like us had a choice then, I don't know, we'd probably end up with losers like you!"

A sudden silence overtook the room. I stared at her, unsure whether to be offended, disappointed, or flattered. Lia tried to maintain her composure, but it was pretty clear she was a few seconds away from crying again. I wasn't sure if it was the alcohol, the emotions, or a combination of the two. As her lips started to twitch and her eyes slowly turned red, I wrapped one arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to me. She returned the gesture, leaning into my chest.

"I'm sorry." She admitted. "You're like, the first person in a really long time to come in and just talk to me."

"It's okay."

"I feel so shitty. I'm such a bad person."

"You're not. You just don't want to believe that you have the freedom to do whatever you want."

She smiled and sniffled a bit, moving away from my side and staring directly at me, her gaze burning in my eyes. "Whatever I want?"

I wiggled a little in my seat, anxious as to what could possibly come next. "Well, uhh, yeah. You know, you get to decide what you want to do."

She took one final sip from the wine glass, finishing it. "Well, what if I _want_ to kiss you?"

I froze for a few seconds. Lia didn't break eye contact. Inside, my mind was on fire. On one hand, I would be fired faster than Kevin Spacey at a YMCA if anyone heard I had been making out with the star of the show. On the other hand, Lia was a fucking goddess. Perfect smooth skin with long blonde hair and pouty lips. Gorgeous body that had curves in all the right places. She was the kind of woman that men would've started wars over.

"If you don't want to, that's okay." Lia said, rescuing me from drowning in my own headspace. Finally, I could formulate a reply.

"I mean, it's not that I don't _want_ to. You're beautiful, and amazing, and everything a guy like me could hope for. It's just, you've just had a lot to drink is all, and I don't think-"

Before I could finish my sentence, Lia had moved herself on top of me. Her hands wrapped around the sides of my neck as she pulled herself in, pressing her lips against mine. My body immediately surrendered to her will. _Oh well. Fuck logic, I guess._ All that was left was pure animal instincts. I knew that deep down I wanted this, nothing to do now but embrace it.

I kissed her deeply as she continued her pressing her lips to mine, breathing in the sweet scent of her cherry lip gloss. My brain couldn't even really process what was happening. Life had dissolved into a blur of perfume and wine-soaked saliva. Instead, I just kept kissing her, eventually working up the courage to push back into her mouth with my tongue. Lia happily returned the invitation, sloppily wrapping her mouth around mine as we continued pressing our lips against one another. Suddenly, I withdrew from her kiss. I wanted to give her something more. Wrapping my hands around her back and squeezing her closer, I kissed her cheeks, feeling her goosebump-covered skin graze across my mouth as I eventually worked my way onto her neck.

"James… what are we doing right now?" She whispered under soft breaths.

I couldn't even begin to think of a reply. As I breathed heavily against the skin of her neck, my heart continued to beat faster and faster. _Should I stop? Have we already gone far enough_? No. I needed more. But it wasn't up to me. Suddenly it hit me.

"Whatever you want, remember?"

She smiled at my reply and pulled me closer.

Satisfied with her decision, I pressed my lips tightly against her soft neck. My mouth suckled on its tenderness, occasionally giving it a gentle bite with my teeth. That move was the only real trick I had learned with my ex and to be honest, I was dying to try it out again. Luckily enough, it seemed to work on Lia too.

As I continued, I could begin to hear tiny moans escaping her mouth between the occasional exhausted breath. Her hips had begun slowly gyrating on the crotch of my jeans, and I couldn't help but return the favor. As her neck started turning a shade of bright red from the fresh hickeys, she suddenly pulled away. Removing herself from my lap, she walked over to a nearby pile of clothes and placed her hands at the bottom of her oversized t-shirt. With a single swift motion, she pulled the whole thing off. No bra in sight.

I couldn't help but stare in awe at her perfect breasts. Their beautiful rounded shapes were covered in delicate goosebumps and capped by two perfectly pink nipples. Noticing my awestruck reaction, she giggled and flung the dirty shirt at me, playfully collapsing backwards onto the messy pile of laundry. I snapped out of it and stood from the couch, removing my own shirt as well. After all, it was only fair.

She tried to look me over in the same manner I did to her, but I didn't give her much of a chance. I had already collapsed on top of her. Pressing my bare chest against her tits, I kissed her on the lips a few more times before finally setting my sights further down. Now face to face with perfection, I massaged her soft breasts in my hands, pressing my fingers deeply into their smooth ridges. They felt as perfect as they looked. My lips gently grazed across them as I began to kiss her delicate skin.

"M-More." She commanded.

I smiled at the opportunity. Still rubbing into her warm tits with my hands, I pushed my tongue against the tip of her right nipple. Lia's head tilted back as she half-moaned, half-exhaled. She was melting. And I was only getting started. I suckled on the breast as hard as I could, gently grazing over the nipple with my teeth to ensure it stayed diamond-hard. With every pass of my tongue, another tiny moan escaped her mouth. It seemed like Lia could barely take it. As I moved to do the same to the other breast, I could feel her arms reaching for something underneath me. Suddenly, she leaned up a bit and whispering something in my ear.

"I want that mouth somewhere else…"

I looked down and saw she had unzipped her denim shorts, pulling them halfway down her legs. I nodded with a smile and finished the job. With her shorts now flung across the room, the only thing left was an eloquent black thong. The last remaining piece of clothing on her whole body. Placing my hands at her thighs, I pulled down and removed the thin strip of fabric, watching her reaction as I peeled away its sticky surface and revealed her perfectly shaved pussy.

Lia smiled, placing a finger playfully between her teeth. She gestured at me with her eyebrows, clearly expressing that she wasn't willing to wait any longer. After all, I did tell her she could have anything she wanted. To be honest, I still couldn't believe it. But instead of trying to make sense of the situation, I simply obeyed her mental commands, kissing her on the lips one last time before assuming the position. As my head fell between her thighs, I kissed the freshly shaved skin, gently grazing my tongue overtop its course texture. But it seemed the time of gentle teasing was over.

Lia reached between her legs and placed her hands at the top of my head, digging her fingers through my hair and pushing my mouth down towards its next task. The pressing of my soft lips against her vagina was more than enough to immediately elicit a reaction.

"Ahh-, James, you're so warm."

"Thanks?"

"Mhmm- Keep going."

I had only done this a few times, but I was pretty confident. With my mouth still pressed against her clit, I slowly pushed two fingers inside of her. Lia leaned her head back and spread her legs wider, giving me even more space to work some magic. Pressing my fingers to the roof of her vagina, I began easing them in and out, probing for something specific. I rubbed slowly but deeply until eventually I found it. The course texture of her g-spot.

"Ahhhhh-!" She moaned loudly, quickly covering her mouth with one hand to hide the sounds of our hookup as best she could.

I smiled, pushing my fingers faster inside her as I felt her body immediately react to my touch. Her breathing became short and anxious. Her body quivered in spastic motions. The space between her legs was completely drenched. Each time my fingers pushed against that spot inside her, a little bit more tension was released. Finally, I decided to go for the kill. Still working her with fingers, I began flicking my tongue up and down over her clit, pushing my warm mouth across the lips of her vagina and onto her pleasure center.

"Ahh-! Holy shit, James-! Ahh-h-" She tried to form a cohesive thought but couldn't.

But I was unrelenting. I continued tonguing her pussy as hard I could, rubbing my fingers faster and faster inside her, pushing as hard as I could into her g-spot. Lia's whole body began to shake.

"James, p-please, I'm gonna f-fucking-ahhh! Ah! Ah-Ahhhhh!"

Suddenly, Lia's hands pushed down hard on my head, burying my face into her soaking pussy. She screamed loudly out as her back arched upwards, legs shaking and body convulsing. I didn't give up. My tongue continued flicking itself over her clit, fingers arched upwards and pushing themselves inside her as quickly as possible. Shockwaves rippled through her entire body as her breathing reached its peak speed. Barely able to control herself, she convulsed and twisted as I pressed myself deeper into her body one final time.

Tongue finally settling between her legs, I felt her body squeeze and tighten around my fingers as I slowly pushed across the g-spot. Her entire body seemed clamped around my hand for a few seconds as it twitched and pulsed. Finally, Lia's legs fall back to the pile of laundry. It seemed she was starting to recover.

"Holy shit James…" She barely managed to squeak out amidst weak breaths.

"So… did you get what you want?"

"Yeah… I did…" She smiled at me, still gaining control over her breathing.

"Good," I smiled back.

Collapsing onto the pile of laundry next to her, I stretched an arm around her shoulder and stared into her eyes. She looked like a completely different person compared to the drunken ball of depression and angst she was 20 minutes ago. Naked and drenched in sweat, her body had a certain radiance under the dim lights of the vanity mirror that simply couldn't be described. Her long blonde hair, now a complete and utter mess, flowed down her shoulders and frizzled onto the dirty clothes below. Her whole face was bright red with a combination of arousal and moderate embarrassment. But she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. And I barely knew her. Instead of dwelling on it, I leaned in and kissed her gently. Her lips parted in perfect synchronization with mine, and as I breathed in that cherry lipstick again, I felt a genuine happiness. And I think she felt it too.

"Well, that was… something, huh?" She said in a hushed tone, pulling her lips from mine.

"Yeah, definitely." I replied, kissing her softly one last time.

"Guess I should do the shoot now, huh."

"What?!" I remarked out loud, suddenly rising to an upright position.

Lia giggled and stood upright as well, walking over to the vanity mirror. She looked at herself and what a mess she had become in the process of our impromptu hookup.

"Tell hair and makeup to prep for me! I'll be ready in five minutes."

"Wait, so you mean you're actually going to do the shoot?"

"I feel like a new woman James! A woman who actually shows up to the gigs her agent books! A woman who doesn't just cry in her dressing room for six hours a day!"

"Good! I mean, umm, yeah! Good!"

"So go get hair and makeup! And be quick!"

Lia returned to looking at herself in the mirror. I grabbed my shirt and turned to leave the room, but something just felt _off_. Like it would be the worst decision of my life to just run out that door right now without saying something first. I pondered on what it was I wanted to convey but, as usual, it seemed Lia had already predicted my intentions and was taking control of the situation.

She turned away from the mirror and saw me in the middle of the room, shirt in hand, awkwardly gawking at her naked body. She smiled and rolled her eyes, grabbing a piece of paper and pen from the mirror's cabinet. Walking over to me, she slipped the note into my hand.

"There's my number. Call me after we wrap up today. I think I have to get Sushi with my mom for dinner, but we can do something later if you're up."

"Wait, for real?" I blurted out, immediately regretting my poor choice of words. Lia just smiled.

"Yes, 'for real.' Though maybe this time we should try to talk more before I get straight to forcing you into going down on me."

"Will do!" I chuckled.

"Now go! Hair and makeup! People want to go home!"

(TBC)


End file.
